Judges

Judges Chapter 18

Danites Take the Levite and the Idol

Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.
2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.
3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?
4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.
5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.

So we see the idolatry continues. We see a mixture which we know from scripture, the Lord does not condone. Not only did Micah make an idol and hire the priest to serve both God and the idol to make it seem justified but it is not. It is a direct violation of God's word in the law of Moses. This is so sad.

Heathen nations had idols too and did not know the God of Israel but we see here people that knew of the real God but wanted to keep the idol worship but still acknowledge the real God to make it seem a good thing. Perhaps this was the case with Micah, we don't know for sure. Mixing evil with good does not make anything right.

Some Christian religions do use idols to represent the real God, Jesus and Mary and some bow down but recognize them as representatives and not real idols. This too is forbidden by the law of Moses.

I have always avoided going to any service where the use of images is observed except for once when it was a community thanksgiving service. I had one of my kids with me at that time. We sat down and he watched as worshippers came in and bowed before the image of Mary. My son spoke out loud and asked me why we were not going forward to bow down to that statue. I felt like crawling under the seat, I was so embarrassed. He was being inquisitive not showing disrespect. A few people turned around and smiled, some laughed thinking it was funny so it turned out ok. He was just a little guy and had been in church since he was a baby, as was all my three children at the time, ( I had one more 4 years later), so he was just curious. He has always been one that wanted to do things correctly so he wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing by not doing what everyone else was doing.

I do notice that in the book of Revelation chapter 7 we see some from the tribes of Israel sealed so that they do not suffer from the wrath of God about to be poured out on the earth. The tribe of Dan is missing. Perhaps it is because of them being the first tribe to turn to idolatry. Another thought I read in a commentary is that no one from the tribe of Dan had received Jesus Christ at that period Revelation speaks about and that is the reason no one from that tribe is sealed at that time.

Judges 18:7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

These Danites coveted this land since they had not yet received their inheritance like ther other tribes and some of the other Danites had already received. Whether this is good or bad, we don't know. Whether it was in the will of God we don't know. Some bible scholars say that the people of Zidon wer careless and wicked.

Judges 18:8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?
9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.
10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.
11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.
12 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim.
13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.

We don't really know if this was part of the will of God at this time so I can't speculate. The original command of God to all Israel was to wipe out the Canaanites completely because God gave the land originally to Israel years before. It was promised to Abraham and his seed. In the days of Abraham though God didn't allow Abraham to take over the whole land because the Canaanites had not passed the point of no return. God is merciful and gives people a chance to repent of evil and turn to him. Perhaps Abraham was the one to give them one last chance.

Years later after over 400 years of bondage to Egypt, Israel was to take the land of Canaan. Lest we think God is cruel. He is not. The Canaanites were people very wicked. They sacrificed children in the fiery bellies of idols and many other abominations was done by them. There comes a point when God says enough and brings wicked nations down. When their wickedness passed the point where they were beyond repentance, God allows other nations to take over. Sometimes the nations that take over are wicked too but have not yet passed the point of no return.

Judges 18:14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.
15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.
16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.
17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?
19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?
20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.

Now we see the children of Israel deceiving each other over idols. The priest had already departed from God to become a priest for idol worship for a small sum of money. Now we see him ready to betray Micah and become a priest for a greater number of people being moved to a higher level. More money and over more people. All for idolatry. God knew this type of thing would happen if the children of Israel did not destroy idol worship from the land of Canaan. It became a snare to them.

Judges 18:22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.
23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?
25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.
26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.
27 And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.
28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.
29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.
30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

I wonder what would have happened if Micah had not set up an image and hired a private priest. Perhaps the rest of what is recorded in this chapter would not have happened. We see clearly now though that image worship is not in the will of God. We must avoid it whether we use it to represent the real God or not. We don't know what God looks like and God planned it that way. We are to worship now in spirit and in truth by faith. He doesn't want us to use images in worship. The Ten commandments make that plain. He has something far better for us than a religion with images. In fact we don't even know what Jesus and Mary looked like. Walking by faith and the Holy Spirit is better than any substitute way of worship. DC

John the apostle wrote to us in his letters to believers in Jesus:

1John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Judges Chapter 19